Master Electricians Australia say 15 people are killed and 300 hundred people are hospitalized each year due to electrical shocks that could have easily been prevented by safety switches.
A safety switch is designed to cut off electrical current within a few milliseconds of a surge, significantly reducing the chance of accidental electrocution.
Is your safety switch working? Here’s how to check.
- First make sure you do this in daylight as the lights will cut out briefly (and you might lose the time on your digital clocks too!).
- Open the switchboard door and look for the ‘Test’ button. Press it firmly.
- If this trips the safety switch to OFF and the lights go out, it’s a good sign that everything is OK.
- Flick the safety switch back to the ON position.
- If you don’t see a ‘Test’ button along the row of circuit breakers, then you don’t have a safety switch and that could put you and your family in danger.
Many homes built in the last decade will have safety switches fitted to the power and light circuits. But to achieve maximum protection, you need a safety switch on every circuit of every home, for hot water, lighting, air-conditioning and the oven and stove – not just your power points.
The reason why we recommend this is that anything electrical could become faulty over time. For example you may recall of the tragedy earlier in the year when a British Backpacker was electrocuted and killed in Thailand by a faulty, ungrounded fridge. This doesn’t just happen at cheap holiday destinations, it could happen anywhere. So test your safety switches right now, it could mean the difference between life and death.
For a safety switch installation or quote contact us on 1800 981 993.
